


Village of Kind Strangers

by MiniNephthys



Category: End Roll (Video Game)
Genre: Attempted Sexual Assault, Gen, Pedophilia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 09:38:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8008444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Russell's friends have something to say about this village made of candy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Village of Kind Strangers

“Don’t eat that!”

Tabasa doesn’t go as far as smacking the chocolate out of Russell’s hand, but the urgency in his voice is enough to get Russell to lower the treat away from his mouth and look at him questioningly.

“It’s not safe here,” Tabasa says, eyes darting around the candy landscape. “This place, and these people… they give me the creeps.”

“I’ve gotta agree with Tabasa here…” Cody folds her arms and gives one of the strangers a glare. He offers a wide smile that does absolutely nothing to reassure anyone. “Can we just go back to the hospital? Right now?”

“It’s okay,” says Russell. “There are beds here, and most of us are hurt, so...”

“I wouldn’t rest in one of these houses if I were paid to,” Dogma says.

But Russell is de facto leader, or else none of the others are willing to leave him alone when he enters one of the strangers’ houses, so they all follow behind him. After they’re all inside-

“Did he seriously just block the doorway,” Cody says like she almost can’t believe it, despite what her eyes are telling her.

“He seriously just did,” Tabasa says in reply, and is about to yell at the stranger when Russell moves to climb on the bed. “Hey, you aren’t really going to-”

“Healing,” says Russell, calmly. He shuts his eyes. “We can just beat him up if he does anything.”

“You should be taking this more seriously…” Cody mumbles. Arguing with Russell has never worked, though.

Of course the stranger tries something, after a bit of muttering about how much he loves children. No one is actually surprised by his groping hands. What is surprising - at least to Russell - is how quickly Dogma has his sword pointed at the stranger’s throat, before Russell’s even fully out of the bed.

“May God forgive you,” he snarls, his grip on the sword’s hilt tight enough to turn his knuckles white, “because I won’t!”

The battle is over quickly.

“Are you alright?” Tabasa asks Russell, the moment the stranger dissolves into a puddle of blood.

“I’m okay,” Russell says. “Better now that I got a rest.”

“What were you thinking?!” Cody asks, turning her glare on him. “What if we hadn’t won that battle?”

“We were going to win,” says Russell.

“But if we hadn’t, you- Something really terrible could have happened to you,” Tabasa says, wringing his hands.

Russell shrugs. Then, after a moment, he says, “The others still need to heal, too.”

“You can’t possibly mean to do this again,” Dogma says. The creeping horror on his face isn’t an expression that Russell understands - they did just win, after all.

None of the arguments from the other three stop Russell from returning to the orange balloon and bringing in Mireille, Kantera, and Yumi in their place. Yumi is the first to open her mouth: “No freakin’ way.”

“I-I have to agree!” Mireille says, a sternness in her tone despite the stammer. “No amount of healing would be worth risking that kind of danger for you!”

“We could easily dip into our supplies for healing,” Kantera says. “We have plenty of medicine - there’s really no need for you to do something as drastic as this.”

“We need to save our medicine for that monster’s nest,” Russell says. He’s already walking towards the next stranger’s house. “It’s not really that big of a deal.”

“It absolutely is that big of a deal!” Kantera replies, worry rising in his tone. “I’ll give you a discount on all of my wares, even - just please don’t risk yourself like this.”

“I’m glad you trust us to protect you, but if we weren’t able to…” Mireille wrings her hands together. “I-I would never be able to live with myself!”

Russell shakes his head, and enters the second house. The others follow, and again the stranger blocks the exit. This time, Russell doesn’t even wait to lie down on the bed.

Yumi kicks the mumbling stranger in the face the moment he approaches. “Not a chance! Taste justice, you scum!”

This battle goes about as quickly as the other one does. As Yumi stomps on the remaining puddle of blood for good measure, Russell pushes away the fussing Kantera and Mireille. “I’m fine, really. You can stop.”

“Are you absolutely certain?” Kantera asks. “Being exposed to this sort of thing can be traumatic.”

Russell shrugs. “It’s just life, isn’t it?”

Mireille worries at her lip. “Russell…”

“It isn’t ‘just life’!” Yumi whirls on Russell, causing him to startle and take a step back. “These kindsa adults are pieces of shit - sorry ‘bout the language - and you shouldn’t just accept whatever they decide to do to you! You’re still a kid, dangit!”

Russell stares at her, wide-eyed and speechless.

“That is what we’ve been trying to tell you this entire time,” Kantera says. “You’re dear to all of us. We don’t want to see you just take this kind of treatment as a matter of course.”

“Yumi… Kantera…” Russell pauses, then looks away. “...Let’s go back to the hospital.”

“I never thought I ever would be so grateful to hear those words,” Mireille says with a sigh. “Please lead the way.”

Russell picks up the others at the orange balloon, and says, “I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“It’s okay,” says Cody. “Well - it’s not really okay at all, but we’re just glad you’re safe, you know? Don’t do that again.”

“I won’t,” says Russell. He digs the candy and chocolate he was given out of his pack, and drops it on the ground before squishing it underneath his shoe.

“That’s more like it,” Dogma says with an air of satisfaction. “Tabasa, let’s hurry and leave this accursed place.”

Tabasa quits glaring at one of the strangers. “...I’d really like to punch that guy’s lights in, though. He called Russell a bad kid.”

Russell is a bad kid, completely unarguably, but he knows it’s for different reasons. He smiles. “Thank you, everyone.”


End file.
